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Brother Marquis, the longtime 2 Live Crew rapper whose real name was Mark D. Ross, died on June 3, 2024, at an age widely reported as 58. The group announced his death without giving a cause; a report three days later attributed a heart-attack ruling to an Alabama county deputy coroner.
What happened to Brother Marquis?
2 Live Crew announced Ross’s death on social media on June 3, 2024, saying he had “went to the upper room,” but offered no further details. Early reports likewise said the cause was unknown. On June 6, TMZ reported that Dantez Robinson, identified as chief deputy coroner for Etowah County, Alabama, had ruled the cause a massive heart attack and the manner of death natural. That cause and manner are reported findings attributed to Robinson; the announcement itself did not specify them. TMZ’s June 6 report described the ruling.
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Why reports differ on his age
Most contemporaneous coverage, including the group’s announcement as reported by outlets, described Marquis as 58. The Washington Post noted that sources differed on his birth date and reported a date of April 2, 1967, based on DJ Debo; that date would make Ross 57 when he died. Because of the discrepancy, a precise birth date should not be treated as settled. The Washington Post’s obituary explains the conflicting age accounts.
How Brother Marquis became part of 2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew formed in Riverside, California, in 1984. Ross joined in 1986 after meeting DJ Mr. Mixx while living in California, contributing to the group’s debut album, The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are. Its Miami bass sound and sexually explicit lyrics became defining features, and the records Move Somethin’ (1988), As Nasty as They Wanna Be (1989) and Banned in the U.S.A. (1990) brought the group national attention.
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Marquis later said he had not been comfortable with all the profanity in the music, but that the community’s response helped him accept it. In a 2022 interview with VladTV, quoted by The Guardian, he said he “wasn’t comfortable with all the profanity that we were putting into the music, but when you see the reaction in the community and everyone’s loving it, you know, you kind of go with it”. The Guardian also credited him with a line later associated with Jay-Z’s “99 Problems”; that attribution is best understood as the outlet’s account rather than an uncontested account of the lyric’s authorship. The Guardian’s obituary covers his career and remarks.
The legal battles that shaped the group’s legacy
The obscenity case over As Nasty as They Wanna Be
Released in 1989, As Nasty as They Wanna Be became the focus of a Florida obscenity case. A federal judge ruled the album obscene in 1990, and the group’s members faced misdemeanor charges. The ruling was overturned on appeal in 1992, and the members were acquitted after trial. The legal controversy made the record a landmark in debates over artistic expression and government limits on explicit music.
The separate “Oh, Pretty Woman” fair-use case
That obscenity dispute is distinct from the group’s case over its parody of Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.” In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the parody qualified as fair use. The decision was about copyright and parody, not the obscenity ruling. The Washington Post’s account of both cases includes the judge’s description of the album as appealing “to dirty thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind.” The Post’s obituary distinguishes the cases and recounts their outcomes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Marquis on the group’s impact
Looking back on 2 Live Crew’s influence in 2021, Marquis told The Guardian: “It’s a great feeling because no one can take away from me what we did. I can take it to the grave that we made a difference.” His career placed him inside a group whose records became both popular music and the subject of major disputes over obscenity, artistic freedom and copyright.
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Pitchfork’s June 3, 2024 report documented the group’s announcement and Marquis’s place in its history.
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